Stratus | Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Chapter Eight | Alone

Zuko groaned again, the spot where he was trying to guide the lightning to blew up again, pushing him back.

"Why can't I do it?" He snarled, turning to scowl at Iroh who sat peacefully in the shade of the hut they resided in. Kumo was doing pull-ups in a tree, pausing occasionally to check on Zuko. "Instead of lightning, it just blows up in my face, like everything always does."

"I was afraid this might happen," Iroh sighed, getting up out of the shade and over to Zuko who sat dejectedly on the dusty ground. Kumo dropped down from the branch, taking a swig of water from her canteen. "You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside you."

"What turmoil?" Zuko snapped, getting up and turning to face Iroh's stern gaze. 

"Zuko, you must let go of your feelings of shame if you want your anger to go away." Iroh instructed, staring out of the cliff into the deep valley below. It was barren apart from the abandoned village that lay in ashes and a few trees. 

"I don't feel any shame at all," Zuko insisted, "I'm as proud as ever."

"Prince Zuko, pride is not the opposite of shame, but it's source," Iroh explained, Kumo keeping an ear out as she ran her fingers through the polar dog's fur, "true humility is the only antidote to shame."

Getting up slowly, Kumo left the shade heading towards the cliff edge where Zuko and Iroh stood. She felt apart from them recently like she didn't belong, and the idea of leaving had tempted her many of times. 

"Well, my life has been nothing but humbling lately. " Zuko muttered, looking away from his uncle and out onto the valley. Iroh sighed.

"I have another idea," he proposed, "I will teach you a fire-bending move that even Azula doesn't know, because I made it up myself." 

Zuko turned to his uncle, the smile returned to both of their faces. 

They continued to train for a while, before returning to their beds as night drew near, but as they both slept silently, a certain person began to wake. Kumo got up from her place on the floor, creeping out onto the cliff edge.

She sighed, tucking her fan into her armour as she crept out of the clearing through a small gap between some rocky outcrops. Giving Kaze one last hug, nuzzling into his soft fur, she ordered him to return home. They said that was a skill of polar dogs, wherever they went, they could always find home, unlike Kumo, Kaze had a home, back with the water tribe.

Kumo felt different. She felt like she wasn't as close to Iroh or even Zuko anymore, and maybe, it was time to move on and find her own way so she could stop acting like a freeloader. Sure, she liked Zuko, she may even have loved him, but...

Ugh, she didn't know. 

Jogging down into the woods, she refused to glance back as a single tear tumbled clumsily down her cheek. Iroh had once said she was family; that she belonged. But now, she was on her own once more. She hadn't belonged  with the water tribe, or Zuko, or Lang Yao. 

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*Short chapter, I realise, but I'm sort of ending this sorta arc where she stays with Zuko and moves onto greener pastures, one could say. The next chapter will hopefully be uploaded soon.*

*Thanks for all your great ideas, and support, they have helped greatly.*